Chinese-based electric vehicle company Byton has debuted its first drivable concept car at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.
Coming to the UK in 2020, the premium SUV focuses on the digital experience with innovative human-vehicle interaction, functioning as a next-generation smart device built for the coming era of smart mobility and autonomous driving.
With a huge touchscreen dashboard, the car offers passengers a shared ‘lounge’ experience for communication, entertainment and work on-the-go.
It sports a range of tech from voice recognition and touch control to biometric identification and hand gesture control technology. Underpinning it all is the Byton Life Cloud platform.
Amazon Alexa will also be along for the ride providing intelligent voice control. The car will have a maximum range of 520 km (323 miles) on a single charge.
Face recognition cameras recognise the driver or passenger to unlock the door. It also recognizes driver and passenger information to auto-adjust seat angles, entertainment preferences and other information according to user preferences and usage.
User profiles are also auto-enabled for every car so no matter which Byton the driver sits in they can download their profile.
Other features include advanced AI and machine learning capabilities to analyse a user’s calendar, locations, hobbies and application data to provide customized advice on what to do next.
Byton’s interconnected hardware is also prepared for 5G communications. The hidden antenna on the roof allows data transfer rates up to 10 Gbit/second which is hundreds of times the normal average bandwidth.
“The Byton Concept SUV connects both the automotive and digital industries in ways that will deliver an entirely new connective experience for people on the move. The result is the world’s first Smart Intuitive Vehicle, or SIV,” said Byton CEO and co-founder Dr. Carsten Breitfeld.
Dr. Daniel Kirchert, Byton president and co-founder, said: “Byton is tailor-made for fully electric mobility. Equally important, we have designed our car to be the first-ever affordable premium EV that fulfills the requirements as the first car in every household.”
Manufactured in Nanjing, China the Byton Concept retails at USD $45,000 and will be available in China towards the end of 2019, coming to the U.S. and Europe in 2020.